Infiltrator
by N. Kage
Summary: Corporal Knowles has finished his mission and has been reassigned to another theatre.
1. Mission begins

**Officio Sabtorum**

(NOTE, I claim no ownership of any 40K references included here.)

This is rated **M**

Corporal Knowles crawled slowly across the shell-cratered no-mans land between the Imperial lines and the rebel fortifications. He had been crawling for over an hour, his sniper-pattern las-gun digging painfully into his back. A flare suddenly lit up the night sky and Knowles froze, praying to the Emperor that some keen eyed rebel didn't see him. The flare fell slowly across the night sky, casting strange shadows that confused Knowles's night vision. When the light from the flare disappeared, Knowles resumed his slow, steady journey to assassinate Lord General Uldesh, known as the Butcher. Lord General Uldesh had, when the planet had succeeded from the Emperors light, executed some twenty-thousand guardsmen who had been garrisoned on the planet and burned alive the one-thousand Ministorum priests who had spoken out against the Lord Generals succession from the Imerpium.

Knowles was a member of the Officio Sabtorum, a branch of the Imperial Guard that specialized in assassinations and sabotage. Imperial Guardsmen, who proved their skills in these fields, as well as other fields, are recruited into its ranks and put through an extensive two year training regime. Those who survive the training are some of the coldest killers in the galaxy and can sneak into just about any where, to do just about anything. However, like with every branch of the Imperial life, the Inquisition is especially watchful of the Officio Sabtorum, for, during some of their missions, they may come across banned and heretical books. Those agents that come across these books are often mind-wiped and re-trained and many veteran agents have scars and experience they do no remember gaining.

The rebel bunker system loomed suddenly in front of Knowles. Quiet as you like, he pulled a silenced auto-pistol and a soot-blackened knife from his belt and rose to a crouch. Still walking slowly a possible, Knowles shuffled towards the nearest bunker and stopped, melding into the shadows as a sentry walked past him. Without hesitation, Knowles wrapped his pistol arm around the sentry's neck and stabbed him between his second and third ribs. Without a sound, the sentry collapsed and Knowles dragged the body into a corner. He paused to whip his knife clean and continued on, sliding with his back to the bunker, until he reached the power-plant at the rear. He took a remote-detonated melta-bomb from his pack and attached it to the main power cable. It always paid to have a distraction ready when necessary.

Knowles continued past the rebel bunker and dropped silent as sin into, what he thought was a communications trench and began to follow it. He hadn't gone five meters when a rebel trooper came pounding done the trench towards him. The trooper had a confused look on his face until Knowles fired a single bullet into the trooper's forehead. Knowles stopped and searched the rebel's pockets until he found a mass of folded parchment. Knowles leaned over the body and flicked on his lighter. It was a warning about possible infiltration by members of the "enemy" (they were probably referring to the Imperials, thought Knowles) to assassinate General Uldesh during his visit to the rear area to boost morale. That's almost too convenient, thought Knowles; the bloody rebels must know I'm coming, best be extra careful then.

The communications trench ran straight back for five kilometers, branching off into side corridors which Knowles booby-trapped with frag grenades and trip wire. Then, the trench stopped dead at the door to a bunker. He couldn't risk looking over the sides of the trench for fear of being spotted by rebels. So, Knowles placed a small, krak charge on the door lock and ducked behind a mass of wiring and set off the charge. With an almighty clang, the bunker door blew in. Knowles sprinted in, and stabbed a reeling guard in the stomach. Another raised an auto-rifle and Knowles put a bullet in his head. To his left, a rebel was frantically speaking into a headset and Knowles put a round into his head and two into the radio. Hopefully, no one had heard the guard's frantic call for help. Knowles stalked silently through the bunker picking off rebels one by one as they scrambled out of their bunks. Finally, five minutes after entering the bunker, Knowles found the front door and steeled himself before opening it. He glanced at the chronometer on his belt and the luminescent dials read One a.m. That was good. He had several hours to find a good sniping position before the Generals arrival. Breathing deeply, Knowles pulled his las-gun off his back for the first time on the mission and wiped the grim of his custom scope. He slowly opened the door and scanned the perimeter. A rebel had his back to the door, silhouetted against moon. Quickly, he raised his rifle and fired. The silenced rifle made a _zipp _sound and the rebel fell forward with a thud. Cursing, Knowles grabbed the rebel's feet and dragged him inside the bunker and dumped him in a corner.

Knowles opened the door a little more and slid out, keeping his back against the bunker. A series of gigantic flashes blinded him and he dropped to his belly and crawled behind a stack of barrels. Seconds later, when his night vision came back, he cautiously looked over the barrels and was stunned by what he saw. A battery of five rebel Earthshakers were dug in behind the slope of a hill, their crew scurrying around them, frantically reloading. Knowles ducked back behind the barrels again and clamped his eyes shut just as the guns fired again. He had to knock out those guns, but he didn't have enough melta-bombs left to destroy them all Maybe if he hit the magazine, he could get all the guns and kill a good deal of rebels. That was his plan then.

Slowly, Knowles stood up and watched some rebels run into a camouflaged bunker, half buried into the hill, and come some seconds later, carrying shells. Guess that was the magazine. Spying steam rising from a ventilation grill, Knowles bolted between the shell-fire and dived down beside it. Quickly, he pulled a pair of bolt cutters from his belt, and cut open the grill. The steam rising from it blinded Knowles, and cursing, he put on his Armageddon-pattern gasmask. He then pulled a thin climbing rope from his pack and staked it to the ground next to the grill. Then, with a silent prayer to the Emperor, he swung himself down and climbed down the shaft into the darkness.

After some five minutes of climbing, during which Knowles thought he must have gone only about twenty meters down, the shaft abruptly ended above a large pot. Cursing his luck for finding a kitchen, Knowles wedged himself in the shaft by sticking his knees on one side and his back on the other; Knowles pulled the pin on a frag grenade and dropped into the room. Loud and blasphemous cursing erupted just before the grenade exploded. Then, there was silence. Quickly, Knowles swung himself into the room and dropped down beside the stew pot. All around him, rebel bodies lay dismembered, with the fragments of bowls scattered everywhere. No one was left alive. Heart pounding, he drew his faithful auto-pistol and combat knife and began to find that damn magazine before the general arrived. Then, with a curse, he left his gas-mask on; he had heard about the noxious gases Chaos cultists used. Now, he was in his own private hell, the lens of the mask fogging every few minutes and he couldn't hear a damn thing.

Throwing open the only door in the room; he was confronted by two corridors, leading in opposite directions. Choosing the left one, since he was right handed, Knowles threw open the first door he came across. Two officers were sitting at a table, playing cards. The shocked look on their faces before Knowles blew them away was so priceless; he filed it away with the other ones in his head. There were quite a few, neatly catalogued by mission and success rating. Closing the door, Knowles searched the room for documents, hopefully a damn map of the place! The two officers had nothing on them, just las-guns and defaced Imperial currency. One footlocker in the room got Knowles attention. There was a giant padlock on the latch, but Knowles picked it in fifteen seconds. Glad I'm not too old to do this, thought Knowles, or else I'd be shot. In it was a book, bound in what looked like human skin, with a hand nailed to it, covered in... Knowles had to pull off his gas-mask to keep from choking in his own vomit. He wiped his mouth and, not looking in the locker, placed a quick-burning explosive in it and ran out the door, straight into a patrol of a dozen rebels.

"Saboteur!" screamed one, as if it wasn't obvious enough.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" shouted Knowles as he threw himself at the guards, shooting the one who spoke in the stomach and rammed his knife into the neck of another. A rebel shot Knowles in the leg, but he didn't notice, dragging his knife free and shoving it under the guards chin into his brain. Spinning, Knowles fired three rounds, killing two guards instantly, the third collapsed, frothing with a bullet in his throat. Another rebel tried to stab Knowles with a bayonet, but Knowles rounded on him and fired his auto-pistol. A dull, ominous click was the only sound. "OH SHIT!" shouted Knowles, with no time to reload, he dived and rolled, stabbing the rebel in the groin. Screaming, the guard dropped, the knife stuck in his pelvis. Knowles grabbed the nearest guard and slammed his palm into the guard's nose, killing him instantly. Spinning, Knowles drove his heel into one of the rebels throats, sending him to the ground, choking. Three left to kill. Just three more dead bodies to Knowles. Except one of the rebels had his las-gun out, and firing. Rolling backwards, Knowles scrambled amongst the corpses until he found a hilt. With a smile, Knowles drew a long-sword, probably from an officer. Swinging the sword, Knowles decapitated two of the last rebels. The last stood, wide eyed, hands shaking, a wet stain on his trouser front. Chuckling, Knowles reloaded his pistol and calmly put one bullet in the rebels head. He deserved to die. Quickly, Knowles removed his combat knife from the still living guard and put a single bullet in his head.

Running down the corridor now, Knowles simply threw open every door he found and killed whoever was inside.


	2. The assassin

I claim no ownerships of any 40k stuff, or any Games-workshop stuff. To one Hero Jones, in the last Chapter, Knowles heels a man in the throat, not knees him. Thank you. N. Kage

Alarms ringing in his ears, Knowles bolted down the hall, auto-pistol blazing towards the magazine. In some room he found a map and was on his way to blowing the crap out a shell-pile when the alarms went off. Now, it seemed like every bloody rebel was in his way. Nothing like a day in Imperial Service.

Suddenly, the great doors of the magazine loomed. Five meters tall, the ornate doors were covered in obscene graffiti and defaced Imperial symbols that made Knowles's eyes ache. Almost two dozen guards stood in front of the doors, las-rifles at the ready. With a curse, Knowles threw his last frag grenade into the center of group and dived to the floor, las-bolts streaking past his body. With a crump, the grenade exploded, sending the shredded bodies flying through the air. Chuckling, Knowles pulled out a las-cutter and began cutting a hole in the door. No dice. The doors were solid adamantine. Maybe a key would work. Cursing his stupidity, Knowles quickly searched the corpses and found, of course, a key. Breathing deeply, Knowles unlocked the doors. With an ominous creak, the great doors swung open. The magazine was not particularly huge, about fifteen meters square, packed with dozens of shells, las-gun power-packs and the like. No one was there, just servitors ferrying shells up to an elevator. Guess that's the way to the Earthshakers, thought Knowles.

He set to work immediately. He first set remote-detonated melta-bombs on the Earthshaker shells, pausing to shoot a servitor several times. Then, he moved onto cases of grenades, wrapping two around a detonator. Now, the hard part, getting out and finding a spot to snipe at Uldesh.

Bolting back down the now empty hall, Knowles reached the kitchen in time to find yet another group of four rebel troopers investigating the dead in the kitchen. But, they had their backs to him. Poor fools, thought Knowles. Stalking close to them, his combat boots silent, he slit his throat. The next nearest one half turned and shouted an alarm. "FOR THE EMPEROR!" screamed Knowles as he emptied his auto-pistol into them. Not to shabby.

Knowles calmly climbed back into the pipe and up to the surface. (He left the rope staked there.) It was closer to dawn now, a slight glow on the horizon. Better work fast. He still needed to get to where Uldesh was going to be, about two more klicks behind the lines. Working his way to the tree line, Knowles got about two hundred meters away from the bunker before his set off the remote detonated bombs. A gigantic fireball shot three hundred meters into the air and was racing toward him when he threw himself into yet another trench. Poor, poor rebels. If they had known he was coming, they probably would have surrendered to the Emperors justice.

Rolling onto his feet, Knowles examined the trench. Wide and well lit, the floor covered with duck boards; it was probably a major thoroughfare. Reloading his pistol, Knowles moved at a half- crouch down the right side of the trench. Since it seemed to leading towards where Uldesh was supposed to be, it was probably the best course of action to follow it.

After twenty minutes, the trench had no turn offs and no traffic. Hopefully there would be no more traffic, though Knowles. He was down to four clips of pistol ammo, no more grenades, but had plenty of las-rifle ammo left.

Abruptly, the trench ended at the outskirts of a large town. Uldesh was said to visiting troops behind the lines to boost morale at a town named Kerkum. Hopefully this was it. Seeing a large building rising in the center of the town, Knowles decided to set up there, where he would be able to snipe Uldesh.

Running along back alleys, Knowles had found no resistance, even thought occasionally he heard patrols go by and had to hide wherever he could. Nearing the large building, Knowles found it to be a former Imperial Cathedral. Lining the main street leading up to the Cathedral, the faithful had been crucified and some were still living. All had been mutilated, their skin craved with obscene marks and brands. As Knowles hurried by, some of those still living moaned and those who had any energy screamed and yelled for help, until he had passed.

The Cathedral had a tall, intact tower and that seemed like the best place to set up. Knowles crouched in the doorway and lobbed his grappling hook up. No dice. The hook bounced back down with a loud metallic clank. Cursing, Knowles readied the hook again and lobbed it again. Success! The hook stayed up. Hurriedly now, since he was so exposed, even in the pre-dawn darkness, a keen-eyed rebel could end his life with one shot.

Two hard and sweaty minutes later, Knowles was in the tower. Gathering up his rope, Knowles pulled out his long-las and the delicate scope he kept in a wooden case deep in his pack. With a click, Knowles slid in the scope into place and locked it. A slight red glow was emitted from the scope, but Knowles turned off the infra-red feature. Knowles then began scanning the main routes to the town, watching for any movement at all. For two straight hours, there was nothing, just some raggedly dressed people shuffling about their daily business.

Then, a blaring horn attracted Knowles's attention. Turning slowly, Knowles saw a massive convoy of Chimera's and Leman Russ's speeding towards the town. One particular vehicle caught his attention. Painted bright red, it was civilian limousine with a blasphemous rune on the hood. The convoy drove into the town, stopping at what looked like a muster field. A the convoy's arrive, at least a battalion of rebel guardsmen swarmed out of nearby barracks and formed up in perfect parade formation.

Out of the red limousine, stepped a huge man in blood red carapace armor. Around him, twenty similarly armored men formed in a square that move around him. Guess that's Uldesh, thought Knowles. Slowly and carefully, Knowles rested his rifle on the edge of the tower and aligned the cross-hairs on Uldesh's head. Cursing his stupidity, Knowles pulled out the rifles standard power-pack and slammed home a hot-shot, a super-charged, one-shot pack. Re-sighting, Knowles waited until Uldesh was inspecting the troops before taking the shot. With barely a sound, the las-bolt speed towards the rebel General. With a blinding flash, the bolt bounced off the Generals refractor field. Instantly, he was tackled and his bodyguard scanning the rooftops, looking for him. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, thought Knowles as he slammed back the standard power-pack. Re-sighting, he picked off three of the bodyguard and fired a dozen rounds at Uldesh, everyone being deflected by his refractor field. By now, the entire rebel battalion had found Knowles's position and was sending waves of disciplined las-fire at him.

Damn it, what now? Thought Knowles. If he had any grenades or charges left, he could rig something up and try to get Uldesh. Then, he had a brilliant idea.


	3. A slight distraction

Okay, I've been working on this one for a while, but I never really felt like posting it. So, here it is.

Knowles spun over, and slammed home a fresh magazine into his sniper rifle and quickly swapped the barrel, burning his fingers on the red-hot metal. The wiry sniper rose to his knees, ignoring the dozens of las-bolts and hard rounds that slammed into the stonework around him, or clanged off the giant bell behind him. He raised the rifle to his shoulder and sighted down the scope, watching Uldesh begin to drive away in his armored convoy. Intelligence said that the windows were heavily armored and so were the wheels. Knowles did not care about that. He fired every round, all forty, into the engine block, targeting where he thought the gas tank would be.

When he fired the last round, he dived back down and slammed home another magazine. Knowles was about to rise again, when a massive explosion shook him to the bone. The incoming fire stopped totally and Knowles carefully looked over the now shell-cratered edge. The red limo Uldesh had been riding in was now a burning shell; the Chimera's in front of it were stopped, for the tracks had been shredded in the explosion. The battalion of rebels had been flattened, but several were beginning to stand again. Time for Knowles to make his escape.

The operative crawled back to his rope, still secured by a grapnel and he began to climb back down, rappelling down the side of the Cathedral, taking fifteen, twenty meters at a time. In this way, Knowles was able to get off the tower in less than thirty seconds. He pulled his two auto-pistols out and he slipped into a back alley, half-crouched and running hell bent towards his own lines, some four kilometers away at this point. As another street bisected the alley, Knowles heard the crash of booted feet and the screaming of a girl.

Knowles had been mind-wiped numerous times, participated in at least twelve missions whose survival rating had been slim/non-existent, but the sound of a young girl screaming cut through his layers of mental defenses and barriers. He slipped back across the alley, and used his pocket mirror to look around the corner.

Four rebels had a young girl held between them. All the rebels were still dressed, but their motions suggested they didn't want to be for long. The girl couldn't have been more than sixteen. Knowles stepped around the corner, pulling his auto-pistols out and marched silently towards the quintet.

One of the rebels with his back to Knowles called over his shoulder without looking, "Best not come this way!"

"You should not presume to tell me what to do." Knowles yelled back. He was less than ten meters away. His first shot hit the man who called out to him and blew out the front of his head. The other three turned, saw him and screamed and yelled in panic. Two had their trousers off and none had any weapons nearby. Knowles fired twice, taking the two beside the girl, sending them to the ground, also with perfect head shots. The last one turned and ran, but with his trousers around his ankles, he fell and broke his nose on the hard road. Knowles ran up to him and slit his throat.

When Knowles got back to the girl, she was still shaking, but fully clothed. The operative holstered his weapons and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Y..ye..yes.' she stuttered at first, but regained her composure, 'Yes. Thank you! Can you take me out of here?"

"No. It would interfere with my mission.' Knowles said harshly. He did not have the time to help a girl! He did not have the time to be talking with her! 'I need to go."

"Thank you anyway." She said dejectedly, trying to sway him. Knowles did not fall for this, however, and he spun on his heel, slow jogging back through the alleys, tracking back towards friendly lines. He was taking a completely different route back to the lines, because the way he took here would be swarming. He was going through the woods.


	4. Mission results

FILE TO: OFFSAB/OS-92371-IU

SUBJECT: Knowles, James Corporal

TARGET: Lord General Uldesh 'the Butcher'

MISSION DATE: 9471982M41

TARGET LOCATION: Kyzan Minoris

TARGET SELECTION DATA: When investigating the tardiness of Kyzan Minoris' tithes, it was discovered that the governor had been removed from office by an anti-Imperial general named Uldesh. Uldesh had also executed an estimated twenty thousand Imperial Guardsmen who had refused to side with him, as well as all Ministorum priests planetside. Nearby Guard regiments were drafted in and began to assault the planet, but Uldesh's forces refused to break, his presence bolstering their moral to fanatic levels. Wasmaster Lorum deemed that the Officio Sabatorum could remove him and shatter the line of defenses that were slaughtering his forces. Corporal Knowles, being the senior operative in the sector, was assigned the mission.

MISSION PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Elimination of Lord General Uldesh

MISSION SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Crack open bunker line, destruction of artillery, elimination of rebels

MISSION DATA: After insertion from Imperial Guard lines, Knowles succeeded in penetrating rebel defenses and infiltrating a large bunker/artillery emplacement. Fifty-nine rebels were killed during this stage of the mission. In the bunker, chaos materials were found and destroyed with high-yield krak charges. Charges were placed in an ammo dump and Knowles exfiltrated before the explosives detonated. Four Earthshaker-class artillery pieces were destroyed and an estimated forty rebels were killed. Knowles continued to the town of Plugo, where Uldesh was inspecting the local garrison. Knowles infiltrated the town and secured a position in a bell tower.

When Uldesh arrived, Knowles was forced to blow up the generals transport vehicle, Uldesh's personal refractor field defeating any bullet. His death is confirmed. During exfiltration and the resulting explosion, a further thirty rebels are believed to have been removed.

MISSION RESOLUTION FACTOR: 79.8. Although Uldesh was eliminated, one bunker destroyed, four damaged and a battery of artillery removed, several bunkers need to have been destroyed or badly damaged or rendered unusable to effectively crack the line.

SUBSEQUENT ACTIVITY: Imperial Guard forces succeeded in penetrated the bunker line without major loss, the rebel forces fell apart without effective leadership. Corporal Knowles as been reassigned to another mission.


End file.
